


Perfect for You

by orphan_account



Category: Archie Comics & Related Fandoms, Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, An Alternate Take on the Ending of 1x08, Apologies, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, Important Talks and Untimely Laughing because that's just who Jughead is, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-01
Updated: 2017-04-01
Packaged: 2018-10-13 17:39:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10518609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: An alternate take on the ending of 1x08, when Jughead apologizes to Archie. Pretend all the stuff with Betty didn't happen.Title from the song Perfect for You, from Next to Normal."But even when everything else turns to dirt, You'll be the one thing in this world that won't hurt.I can't fix what's fucked up, but there's one thing I know I can do.I can be perfect for you."





	

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in like 45 minutes while procrastinating English homework. You can probably tell.

_ But even if everything else turns to dirt, you’ll be the one thing in this world that won’t hurt. _

_ I can’t fixed what’s fucked up. But there’s one thing I know I can do. _

_ I can be perfect for you.  _

 

Jughead slips into Archie’s room late that night, his head still swimming with the events of the day. He didn’t expect Archie to still be awake. Better to face the music now than later, Jug thought to himself. Archie hadn’t noticed him yet. Jughead was glad for this, as it allowed him to walk up behind his friend slowly, prepping what he would say. 

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

Archie turns around when he hears his friend’s voice, now face to face with the other boy.

 

“I should have had your back. I was scared. Scared that you might be right. Scared to come to terms with who my dad might be. I thought if I ignored it all, none of it would be real. And I was selfish. After everything your dad has done for me-” Shit. He didn’t mean for his voice to break there. He didn’t mean for his eyes to sting and for tears to threaten to fall. He hesitates as he tries to pull himself together. 

 

Archie cuts him off with a tight hug. He pretends not to notice how his gut drops with he feels a wet tear fall on his shoulder. 

 

“Jug- look at me.”

 

He releases the other boy from his arms, staying close. Jughead looks up at him, eyes still tearful. 

 

“There’s no need to say sorry. I overreacted. I was angry. I jumped to conclusions. I should’ve known you didn’t mean to hurt me or my dad. You’re my best friend, Jug. I should’ve been there for you in the first place- this summer…” his voice gets softer. “You’re my best friend.” he stops when he notices that Jughead is laughing, even as silent tears still fall down his face. 

 

“We’re really a fucked up pair, aren’t we? I came here to apologize to you, and instead you’re the one apologizing to me? And bro-mumbling?” Archie begins to chuckle, but then the laughter stops altogether. Jughead swallows the lump that begins to form in his throat. He realizes how close they are to each other now. He can feel Archie’s breath as they stand in silence. 

 

“You’re my best friend too, Arch. And I wasn’t here for you this summer either. And I haven’t been recently. I’m s-” This time, he’s cut off by his best friend’s lips pressing to his softly. He’s surprised at first, but returns the pressure after a second. Archie pulls away, and Jughead’s heart drops a little, until he hears the other boy speak. 

 

“You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do that, Jug. That’s part of the reason I’ve been distant since summer. I couldn’t face how I felt. But then everything went to shit and I realized you had been the one good thing I always had in my life. You were there when my parents started fighting, when my mom left, when I needed you most. You were even there for me at the beginning of this year, after I’d deserted you. The world is shit, Jug. The situations we’re in are shit. But you make it worth it.”

 

At that, Jughead closes what little distance there was between them, pressing his lips to Archie’s, their mouths moving together. It was slow, and sweet. It was exactly what they both needed. After a while, Jughead pulls back a little, still letting their noses touch, and chuckles.

 

“Sometimes, I think you can read my mind, Arch.”

 

“Think? Don’t you know by now that we’re telepathically linked?” Archie chuckles back. 

 

“You’re dumb.” Jughead laughs. “But I agree with everything you said earlier. My life’s gone to shit lately, with my dad being my dad and mom and Jellybean away. But you’re here. And you’re wonderful. You might not have been there for a while, but even when we weren’t friends, you were looking out for me. You’ve taken punches for me. Hell, you’re letting me stay at your house- in your room. And you don’t know how long I’ve wanted you to do that. Longer than you, probably. Consciously, since sixth grade when I got mad at my dad and tried to run away, and you dropped what you were doing and met me at the treehouse with everything important that you owned, because if I was running away, you insisted we do it together. Subconsciously, since Kindergarten when we took a field trip to the park and my hat flew off and fell in the pond, so you jumped in to get it. It’s always been you, Arch. Always.”

 

Archie pulls back a little. “You remember that?”

 

“Course I do, that’s when I knew that I loved you.”

 

Archie touches his lips to Jughead’s softly, quickly, before resting their foreheads together, chuckling yet again. “My boyfriend is a nerd. I’m dating a giant nerd.”

 

“Boyfriend?” Jughead responded, cocking his eyebrow. 

 

Shit. Archie hadn’t realized he said that out loud. “I mean- you- I thought- I love you and you said you loved me and-”

 

It was Jughead’s turn to laugh. “Oh my god, I’m dating a giant nerd.” He replies, before leaning in to kiss his friend- his boyfriend- again. 

 

“I love you.” Archie says as their lips pull apart. 

 

“I love you too, Arch, but it’s past midnight now and I’m tired.” Jughead flops down on Archie’s bed, kicking his shoes off. 

 

“Me too, Jug. Me too.” Archie says as he climbs on the bed, wrapping his arms around Jughead as Jughead rests his head on Archie’s chest. They lay like that a while. When Jughead finally drifts to sleep, Archie presses a kiss to the top of his boyfriend’s head, smiling to himself, and drifts off as well. 

  
The next morning, he’d wake up to the feeling of Jughead’s lips pressing against his forehead, their limbs still tangled together from sleep. He’d pull the other boy in closer, kissing him slowly, and realizing how lucky he was. It didn’t matter what happened that day, or the next. It didn’t matter how much their town went to shit, or how their lives only continued to get more complicated. They had each other, and that’s all that mattered.


End file.
